Assignment 2: Collecting

              Introduction to assignment 2

Contents:

1. Tutor feedback on assignment 2
2. Brief for assignemnt
3. Explanation of theme/subject
4. Contact sheets
5. Selects for the assignment
6. Evaluation

In this assignment I’ve chosen the theme of Crowds.

1.Feedback on assignment 2

Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Quality of Outcome, Demonstration of Creativity
“It is really to good to see the research section prior to the assignment. Providing your references for the research is excellent practice – and do continue to do this.”

“You have applied several interesting techniques to this assignment. Firstly the square crop as a technical decision – quite rightly you have applied this to all the images. Within social media with the rise of Instagram the square crop has become much more familiar as an image format. It also has the advantage of forming a grid of images very easily – in order to display this better, reduce the images to 9 to allow for a 3 x 3 grid. Possibly remove no. 5 as it is similar to no. 8.”

Yes this I decided to do in order to minimise extraneous objects from the photos. As I say in the evaluation, initially I was not comfortable with the square crop but later it seemed the right decision to make for this particular theme. 

“Secondly the idea of following one person gives a really good structure to the piece and allows for it to become a series rather than a selection of random images. It would be good to get some feedback from people, who are not initially aware that it is the same person in each image to see if you can spot them. The problem with knowing from the outset it that you start looking as if searching a ‘Where’s Wally’ drawing. As you have realized it is better to isolate within the crowd rather than try to photograph a whole crowd.”

The influence of Sophie Calle here, made me decide to follow one person, but within a crowd. I wanted to define more the project and not produce just a generic batch of photos of crowds. 

coursework

“Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Demonstration of Creativity. You are completing the exercises/projects and uploading your work. Continue to do this. It is clear that you are able to take well composed images from the selection presented for Part 2 of the course.”

Research
“Context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis
It is good to see that you are undertaking reading alongside the course. The section on your log is expanding. Do keep adding to this as you research more. Your comments are giving an insight into what you have gained from the book or exhibition. Try to expand on these further. For example with the William Eggleston exhibition, was there an image that really stood out for you? If so describe it. You may use a small notebook to make notes on in galleries, and then photograph the pages and upload them later.”

Learning Log
“Context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis
You have uploaded pages of your learning log as photos – which is a way of showing a log that is written. Can you look at the settings within WordPress so that when you click on a picture it goes full screen. It would be really good to be able to read what is said on the pages without having to zoom in on the web browser.
You are working through the exercises and commenting generally on your work.
The next stage is to start reflecting more on your progress. This self-reflection does come with time. Think about what you have gained from completing something? Maybe it was a technical or artistic consideration that you were already aware of but had forgotten about? How can you improve your work?”

“The notes in your handwritten log are showing good review of your work. Continue to do this and expand the detail of your comments as detailed above.”

Suggested reading/viewing Context
Include more analysis in learning log.

“For looking at isolated figures you may like the work of Vivian Maier – an American photographer whose work recently come to light.”

“For looking at how to photograph amongst a crowd do look at Weegee – another American whose new photographs featured crime scenes. He was able to position himself in order to capture the scene or the onlookers in a very successful way.
If you are not familiar with Weegee then this audio clip is well worth listening to:”

http://petapixel.com/2015/03/25/weegee-shares-his-thoughts-on-news-photography/

Pointers for the next assignment / assessment
“Develop further your critical analysis comments on your own work and the work of others. There are study guides available on the OCA Student Site – if you need help finding them do let me know.” 
“Before assessment I would see if you can get some feedback from people who are not aware of the concept behind the work to see if they can spot the figure and how long it takes.”
“Keep adding the research section of the blog and written learning log. Remember what you look at doesn’t have to be directly related to the topics you are completing or assignment.”

2.Brief:

Create a series of between six and ten photographs from one of the following options, or a subject of your own choosing:

• Crowds
• Views
• Heads

In the research section of the blog you will see more explanation on the theme crowds. Here I follow the assignment notes:

Explanation of subject.

Crowds are an interesting phenomena, both curious to observe and frustrating to photograph as they tend to move. I have chosen to focus the project on a crowd that was moving; essentially a group of tourists on the move through the city. The main inspiration for the way the project has been carried out is from Sophie Calle’s work ‘Suit Venitienne’. (1979)

Sophie Calle’s work has nothing to do explicitly with crowds. The element I have drawn from her work was the theme of pursing an unknown person through the streets. I did this with one person in the crowd, deciding to give the crowd , which is normally an impersonal subject, a more personal feel.

In ten pictures I worked to incorporate the same figure into ten different crowed based appearances. The theme in general served well to reflect on the nature of crowds as personal  and impersonal. Personal in the sense of a subjective experience; viewing or being a part of the crowd or group and impersonal from the point of view being without reference to a particular person. Therefore I have tried to display the impersonal and personal together.

I attempted to use many of the methods from part 2 in this assignment to see how they would hang together and tell a story.

4.Contact sheets for the shoot

Pre-select images

Selects for the assignment

A word about the format

For this assignment I shot the images in horizontal format but later decided to crop all the images to the aspect ratio 1×1. At first I had misgivings about this as I thought that in order to see a crowd one should really use a large wide format as possible to show the multitude. But as my idea shifted to one of pursuing an individual, in an attempt to bring in a personal element to an otherwise impersonal crowd I decided to use the 1×1 format. Rightly or wrongly I have stuck with this decision.

---

5.The assignment selects

Originally there were 10 images in the series but I have removed one (was number 5) due its similarity to photo 8. This was suggested by my tutor.

Photo 1.

All images shot at 100 ISO on AV mode.

85mm   f/3.2    1/250 sec

First image. A line (suggested) could be drawn through the ears of the three people and would give a diagonal from corner to corner of the frame. However, I was mainly aiming to show foreground, mid-ground, background and different heights of the figures placing the protagonist in the middle. The angle of view that I took was lower than the subject to show height.

Photo 2.

85mm   f/2.5    1/640 sec

Here it may have been better to of taken the shot closer so as to make him more figurative and even less in focus. Background thrown out of focus, the camera slightly angled for a contrasted effect with the tilt of the man’s head.

photo 3.

28mm f/2.8  1/640 sec

Here the idea was to show the crowd in transition. Visually the first point of focus is the man’s face and second point of focus that of the woman in front. The angle is view is low to draw attention to the height of the figure.

photo 4.

85mm   f/8    1/30

This image falls below standard on sharpness. I would have like to of re-shot with more focus. The aim is to juxtapose the near and far elements such as the woman’s head and then the main character.

Photo 5.

28mm  f/2.8  1/800

 Interacting with the man, is another face. The main focal point is the other man. By reference the main character brought into focus, talking with his friend. The second point of focus is the main persons head, although the back of it.

Photo 6.

28mm  f/2.8   1/500

The angle of view is as it were normal at head height here. I used it to show the height difference between the two people. At f/2.8 the background is mildly out of focus so as to keep the main attention on the two figures in the front of the photo.

Photo 7.

85mm    f/8     1/30 sec

Again whilst not an image with strong focal points, I wanted to maintain the theme of the height of the protagonist in relation to other people. He is more into the corner of the frame here, almost serving as a point. How this interacts with the rest of the picture is by being a focal point within the group, several people having spotted him in the background of the picture.  85mm f/8 for greater depth of field.

Photo 8.

28mm f/2.8   1/1600

The perspective of view is low. I chose the angle of view in relation to the flag poles. Tallness, overpowering and imposing were the themes. The photo has failings. There were clipped highlights and I had to reduce them heavily.

Photo 9.

28mm  f/2.8   1/640

The culmination of the series with the protagonist being the archetypal tourist. I used the opportunity to shoot with wide-angle in order to broaden the mid and background with horizontal lines drawing out.

Another viewing format that I set up, as it aids for a different experience in seeing the photos as a series.

Rejected images from the initial sequence:

These images do not fit in with the overall flow of the series.

6.Evaluation

What worked well was the flow of the theme. Pursing a stranger to make a crowd less anonymous and personalise the impersonal. I think the idea fits. What has not worked so well is the challenge as a series. I think it might be improved by having some images that juxtapose a little more; that are of the same theme but different subjects. As it is I tried to achieve both of these things within this set of images but I think it lacks variety. I might have included some similar objects that depict crowds, but not people. Such as a crowded fruit bowl, a crowed fridge. This may have impacted more the theme of crowds.

Added April 2017

Evaluation changed to include the following comments:

1. On further reflection I realised that I am pleased with this series of photos. ‘Following my nose’ I felt that pursuing a stranger (one person in the crowd) did work well as a concept and I think that it has produced a coherent set of images. This reflection has come about in retrospect from following the rest of the course to assignment 5.
2. The majority of the shots are take at a relatively close range. I made the conscious decision to exclude excessive activity in the surrounding scene so that I could make it visually clearer that this figure is the same figure. I received a comment on the work from a fellow student that confirmed that this aspect of the series made it interesting especially seeing the different expressions of the face of the same person.
3. The square crop (the second time that I had used it for the assignments in this course) was not something that I was initially comfortable with. It seemed initially to compromise the bigger setting of the picture. Here I learned something about selection and decision making as to what to include and exclude from the frame.
4. Exercise 2.3 (close view point from below) fed into this assignment and I think had more of an influence in the way that I decided to shoot it than I originally realised.
5. From what I’ve learned now from assignment 3 I would re-shoot with a  different focal length. The photos that I took with an 85mm lens I would still shoot but those of 28mm I would change to 35mm. For the last shot of the scene, I wanted to exaggerate the vertical lines thus here I would stick to the 28mm lens.